Thank god we finally find out what Sayid's plan was. Unfortunately, it turns out to be a really crappy plan that amounts to: "We'll set a signal fire to draw the Others out, and then we get 'em!" Good job proving that "military intelligence" is an oxymoron in armies around the world. Sayid's plan is based on several assumptions, including: 1) that despite his not knowing where the Others are coming from, it'll be night when they arrive (this one turns out to be true); 2) that despite not knowing how many Others are coming, he and Jin will be able to take 'em out (this turns out to be about 180 degrees and 180 miles from true); and 3) that the Others will gravitate to the fire he sets instead of the nearby sailboat tied up at the dock. This turns out to be almost fatally wrong for Sun, who was sent to the boat for safekeeping. Fortunately, Sun's been watching some old Ana-Lucia episodes, so when one of the Others discovers her aboard the boat, Sun says, "Another minor blonde woman for us to keep track of? Goddamn! Are you kidding me?" and shoots her in the gut (although we don't know if she's dead) and escapes. But the Others get away with the boat, leaving Sayid, Sun, and Jin with a hell of a long walk home.

The flashbacks feature Sun lying a lot: to her father, to Jin, in bed with Jae. Her father discovers her affair, and enlists Jin to send Jae a message -- with extreme prejudice -- but doesn't tell his reluctant son-in-law about the affair. Neither does Sun. And Jin can't bring it upon himself to kill Jae; instead, he scares the living shit out of him and warns him to leave the country. Jae's in such a hurry to leave, he doesn't take the stairs or the elevator; he just jumps out the window. Or he was pushed. I think he jumped, and it was because he lost the receipt for the pearls that he tried to give Sun.

Sawyer and Kate are enlisted to break rocks in what might be a significant Other project or could just be exhausting busywork. Kate spends some time talking to Alex, who skulks around the bushes, and Sawyer spends a lot of time checking out Kate, who's spilling all out of her dress. Sawyer risks the biggest tasering of his life by swaggering over and sticking his tongue down Kate's throat. But it's mainly to gauge what kind of fight they'd be in for with their captors. Too bad Ben, via video surveillance, is wise to him.

And Ben offers a deal to Jack. Cooperate -- although what exactly that would entail, Ben doesn't say -- and Jack goes home. But now that he knows he missed the Sox winning the Series, why bother?

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We might not have any real idea why last week's episode was called "A Tale of Two Cities," but there won't be any such confusion this week. We open with a shot of a glass ballerina, spinning, spinning, until it's apparent that it's spinning as it falls to the floor, dropped by a young Korean girl, who reacts like street hockey players do when a window gets broken: she bolts, running out the door from this opulent room into another one, where a metronome ticks solemnly away while she practices her piano. Sun's father walks in, carrying a plastic bag that he drops at the feet of Sun, who's clearly somewhat fearful of her father. He asks if she broke the ballerina, and she silently shakes her head -- and then says the maid did it. Her father clearly doesn't believe her, so he spells it right out for her: "If you tell me the maid did this, I will be forced to fire her. Do you understand?" Sun nods, and her father tries again: who broke it? Sun thinks about it a little longer, then says again: "The maid did." Her father's face gets hard, and he turns around and stomps out of the room, ready to fire a woman that I'm pretty sure he himself believes isn't guilty of anything. I might be crazy, but I think a smile is threatening to crack Li'l Sun's face.

But she's not smiling on present-day Craphole Island; she's chundering in the bathroom of Desmond's boat. She wipes her face and puts on a smile as a concerned Jin pokes his head in. She tells him it's just morning sickness, that's she's okay. Jin makes a face and heads above-deck, Sun following. He's not disgusted by her riding of the porcelain bus, but thinks that his pregnant wife should be resting instead of sailing the high seas with Sinbad on this adventure of futility.

Sayid's making notes on a map while a phony-baloney column of black smoke spirals up from the fire they lit on shore. An excited Jin yammers away to Sun, who translates for Sayid: he thinks they should leave, that Jack and the others (not the Others) aren't coming. Sayid counters that Jack's counting on them being there, but then decides that if Jack's north, the mountains would block his view of the fire -- so he wants to start another fire north of the mountains. You'd think Sayid could come up with a better lie. Of course the mountains block Jack's view of the fire. Trees block Jack's view of the fire. That's why he's looking for smoke. Anyway, Jin's all nuh-uh! No way! Sayid refuses to abandon Jack for some reason, and Sun's inclined to agree with him, but "Sayid's not your husband!" Jin snaps at her. Sun turns back to Sayid. "My husband thinks we have to do as he says, because he's the only one who knows how to sail. But he's wrong." She looks back at her husband before telling Sayid she can help him sail the boat.